C.34.k.56, title page
From the collections of: THE BRITISH LIBRARY
Terms of use
The British Library has graciously contributed the above images to Shakespeare Documented under a Creative Commons Public Domain Mark.
Copy-specific information
Creator: William Shakespeare
Title: The most excellent and Lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Iuliet. As it hath beene sundrie times publikely Acted, by the Kings Maiesties Seruants at the Globe. Newly Corrected, augmented, and amended.
Date: London : Printed for John Smethwicke, [1622?]
Repository: The British Library, London, UK
Call number and opening: C.34.k.56, title page
View online bibliographic record
From the collections of: THE BRITISH LIBRARY
Terms of use
The British Library has graciously contributed the above images to Shakespeare Documented under a Creative Commons Public Domain Mark.
Copy-specific information
Creator: William Shakespeare
Title: The most excellent and Lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Iuliet. As it hath beene sundrie times publikely Acted, by the Kings Maiesties Seruants at the Globe. Newly Corrected, augmented, and amended.
Date: London : Printed for John Smethwicke, [1622?]
Repository: The British Library, London, UK
Call number and opening: C.34.k.56, title page
View online bibliographic record
Folger Shakespeare Library staff, "Romeo and Juliet, fourth edition," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/601.
British Library, C.34.k.56. See Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/601.
This the fourth edition of Romeo and Juliet. It was printed sometime around 1622 by John Windet for John Smethwicke. The same pair had previously produced the third edition in 1609 and would shortly produce the variant version of this fourth edition. Unlike this fourth edition, Shakespeare’s name was added to the title page of later, variant edition. The text in both this edition and the variant was largely based on the third edition, with some consultation of the first edition (Wiggins).
The copy shown above, owned by the British Library, is one of three listed in the English Short Title Catalogue. It is a notable copy-- not only was once owned by noted 18th century Shakespearean actor and producer David Garrick, but it also contains two other owner inscriptions: a “Richard Warner 1752” and Sarah Downes noted that it was “her booke” twice, once in 1698 and again in 1709. To learn more about this copy, please see the British Library’s Shakespeare in Quarto page.
To learn more about the plot and early printing history of Romeo and Juliet, please see the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare's Works, and the British Library’s Shakespeare in Quarto.
Written by Folger Shakespeare Library staff
Sources
Martin Wiggins and Catherine Richardson, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue. Vol. III, 1590-1597 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), s.v. "987. Romeo and Juliet".
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, eds, Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), s.v. "Romeo and Juliet".
Last updated January 25, 2020
